It's a popular misconception that cats have nine lives. In reality they've actually got infinite lives and are forced to restart at checkpoints every time they lose one. For proof, just take a look at Katwalk, a metroidvania-style platformer by Krankdud. Our feline hero may bite the dust time and time again but it doesn't keep him down... he just hops right back up and returns to the action! The cat in question has been stranded after falling in a sinkhole outside his home. To help him find his way back, where presumably there's some delicious cans of tuna and black clothing to shed on, use the [arrow] keys to walk left and right and the [X] key to jump. You'll need to find and pick up several different upgrades to complete the game, each of which enhances the cat in some way, such as increasing his jump height or allowing him to swim.
Katwalk is presented in standard retro graphical style. The protagonist cat and all of the enemies are simple but well-defined and everything animates and controls smoothly. There's none of the floaty control issues that you might expect to see in other flash-based platformers. The real highlight of the presentation, though, is the catchy chiptune music that's guaranteed to get stuck in your head for the next decade or so. Katwalk is a short, fairly easy game, so aside from one tricky section involving swimming you won't need catlike reflexes to succeed. This makes it a fantastic coffee break game, and it's so solidly made that it's worth the tiny time investment. So hop on in... there's cattery afoot!
It's got very cute, simple music, I must say. However, I feel as though it is not intuitive enough to be enjoyed. The controls are quite fast paced and the enemies are already difficult to enjoy. Still, I love the simple setting and atmosphere this game brings.
This is a nice, short game. The feather upgrade worked really well.
Great little game!
Some hints along the way:
Grey burger animals are dangerous only when spikes are out
Thou shalt not jump on enemy's head
Find rainbow sock to jump higher
Find blue fin to breathe under water
Find rainbow feather to glide-fly short distances
I don't understand the feather...is it an upgrade or do you have to click a certain key?
It is an upgrade. You have to press X again while in midair to airglide on a little distance. It could be used, well, to jump over lava... :)
Otherwise, cute little game ! Not the kind of metroidvania I expected, but still, short and easy sometimes feel really good.
Adorable and fun!
One game design gripe, though: several screens require leaps of faith-as in, you have to jump or fall off the current screen with no guarantee of a safe landing on the next. In at least one of these situations, you are actually guaranteed to die the first time, because you don't know when and how to react to land safely. These are mitigated by a generous checkpoint system, but it's still not a good design practice.
verry touchy controls, has a lot of promise, but controls that often are hard to control, along with sometimes glitch that makes the browser not even respond to controls (OSX/FF) and no ability to save an continue after a page refresh mars this otherwise very fun platformer. hopefully a persistent save and some tweaking on the inputs will come soon and allow player to fully explore the apparently deeper worlds and gameplay!
[Try Chrome or Safari. I didn't have any response or control issues playing on Mac OSX. -Jay]
That was shorter than I expected. At the final checkpoint, I climbed up the cliff and the game ended when I returned to my house, and I was thinking that I hadn't even explored the water area to the left of that. Played it through again, and it didn't turn out to go anywhere.
Cute game! Anyone find any secret areas?
I've got the following items:
Jump, fins, feather
but I can't figure out what to do now. I've explored
all the way to the left, and can't get back up to my home. I've tried a
leap of faith from the highest place I can find (jumping to the left from the mini ledge to the left of the path with the gap on it and the upward firing plant monster, if that makes any sense),
but it doesn't seem to get me anywhere that normal gameplay won't get me.
Can someone tell me what's next?
nm. Got it.
Cute but.. would've been VERY boring if it wasn't so short.
*2/10 in difficulty
+checkpoints "every step"
+unlimited lives.
I haven't died this much since "This is the Only Level." I really want a gun upgrade in this game. Or to be able to squish monsters.
That lava portion with the spike walls and the small hole in the wall...
Rage. All of it
Ha!
He went out for a walk!
This little game was so pleasant I had to leave a walkthrough, just in case someone comes along and can�t get through it. :)
Estimated completion time: about 5-10 minutes. Estimated satisfaction: HUGE! Controls: made for a light touch, but aren�t twitchy.
WALKTHROUGH
(As instructed: arrows to move, X to jump.)
Part I
First Tunnel
From the first screen go right.
Activate the first checkpoint cat statue by touching it.
You can�t get across the gap because you don�t jump high enough. So fall down.
The gray monster won�t hurt you unless his spikes are out. Wait for them to come out, then run past him while they�re retracted. Go down the steps.
The red monster must be jumped across (you can�t kill him by jumping on top of him). Get the green high-jump shoe on the other side. Now when you press X you jump super-high!
Go back up to Checkpoint 1, taking care to avoid the monsters (or you�ll lose the shoe and start over from the checkpoint). Proceed right.
Part 2
Outside!
Proceed right, activating Checkpoint 2. (Now your high-jump ability is saved.) Keep going right, avoiding the ledges with red monsters on them.
Activate Checkpoint 3, but don�t go down the tunnel yet. (You need the Feather before you can complete this part�as the cave writing below will eventually indicate.) Hop across the tunnel mouth instead, and keep going right/up, as needed.
When you can�t go right/up anymore, you�ll see Checkpoint 4 on a floating ledge on your left. Activate it and keep going up the platform ledges. (If you can�t see all of the next ledge, try jumping up into the sky to see the next screen.)
That thing which looks like a halved stuffed olive--or a bloody anemone?--shoots little black pellets. Jump across the gap, avoid the bloody olive pellets, and proceed right. (Watch out for the red monster next screen.)
Jump across Red, activate Checkpoint 5, and proceed right.
Part 3
Watery Caverns
Go right until you come to the water. Erm, cats don�t like water. Proceed up the platform instead.
On the next screen you�ll see Checkpoint 6 across the gap you just came up. Jump toward it! You can do it!
Activate the checkpoint, and go up and around, avoiding the water.
Drop down the platform (hold right arrow as you�re falling). From this platform take a big leap of faith to the right.
Checkpoint 7! You know what to do. Keep going right.
That blue eyeball you see is not your friend. It shoots angry red squares at where you�re standing. So run to the right, into the gap. Proceed down the tunnel.
Pick up the blue duck flippers on the right: now you can swim!
Activate Checkpoint 8 and go swimming--just dive in! Tap X to go up, arrows to navigate.
Swim up the channel, avoiding the big green fish.
At the top of the channel is another bloody olive. Hop over it and proceed left. Keep running left past the familiar blue eyeball on the next screen!
Keep going left. Time to get outta this place.
Activate Checkpoint 7 again and proceed left. But remember, this time you can go in the water! So you might as well.
Underwater, go all the way to the left, then emerge into a new (?) part of the cavern� No? Oh right, been here before. Activate Checkpoint 6 again if you like, but do be sure to fall back down the gap, and go into the water.
Proceed right, underwater. (If you�re impatient, you can go faster if you jump partially out of the water.)
Activate Checkpoint 9, then go down the watery tunnel.
Avoid the spikes! And the bloody olive. Remember you can use X to slow down your watery fall if you need more maneuverability.
Go up the next channel, past the bloody olive. At the top of the channel proceed right.
Activate Checkpoint 10, then go down the watery tunnel (avoid the green fish and bloody olives).
If you�re having trouble, try this: walk off the left side of the ledge and stay right against the left wall as you freefall through the water until you make it past both fish. Then head to the center to avoid bloody olives/spikes. (Use X to tread water.)
There�s the rainbow feather at the bottom! Grab it, and go back up. Remember what you have to get through� try not to die or you�ll have to get the feather again.
Back at Checkpoint 10! Activate it to save your feather. Note that you can now hover by pressing and holding X while you�re in the air.
Okay, let�s get out. Go left.
Into the water, avoid the bloody olive, avoid the spikes, out of the water at Checkpoint 9. Back into the water and keep going left (you can practice your flying above the water if you like).
Out of the water� Go left, NOT up the platforms, until you�re out! (Remember to look out for enemies.)
At the bloody olive, take left/down to go back the way you came, to that tunnel you skipped in Part II. OR take a shortcut:
Drop down that gap to the left of the bloody olive.
Activate Checkpoint 4, then from its floating ledge, drop down to the left.
Oh hi Red. Aren�t you glad you didn�t land on it? Keep going left.
There�s Checkpoint 3. Activate and jump down the tunnel.
Part 4
Lava Caves
Go down, down, down. Go left, activating Checkpoint 11 as you pass. Ooh, it�s creepy in here.
Fly over the lava! (Jump with X, then press X again while you�re midair. Hold it and add an arrow key to fly.)
Activate Checkpoint 12. Go down. Watch out�after about two screens of falling, there�s a lake of LAVA! Very Miltonic. Get ready to fly left at the bottom, to break your fall.
Jump over Red, activate Checkpoint 13, and keep going left.
Uh�right. Just get through it.
No, but really, it�s easier than it looks. The last jump (with two fireballs, not one) is trickier� jump and fly across. Go right and down.
Activate Checkpoint 14. Keep going left.
Jump-fly across the gap, and go up the platforms. Watch out for the blue eyeball and spikes!
When you can�t go any further up, look for the small passage to your left in the rock wall. Aim, and jump-fly!
Checkpoint 15. Omg, more lava balls. Avoid it, avoid Red, and�you�re out!
Activate Checkpoint 16.
(You can go for a quick swim to the left, if you like, but there�s nothing there.)
Go up, little Kat! Avoid Olive, Red, etc.
Welcome home!
Whew. What a perambulation.
There�s no
ending animation,
but I think you still feel oddly happy at the finish...
Update